Brookings economist Howard Wial tells me manufacturing in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area ranks in the top 10 nationally. That’s the 8th largest number of manufacturing jobs among the country’s top 100 metropolitan areas, but only 7.3% of jobs in this region are manufacturing jobs, compared to 8.5% nationwide.

Wial says the growth in manufacturing jobs is slow in Greater Boston, but 40% of the manufacturing jobs in the region are classified as very high-tech, and they pay well. More than half of the area’s manufacturing jobs are in four areas: computers, electronics, fabricated metals and food products.

Meanwhile, a Bay State manufacturer dating back more than five decades has taken a giant step into the future. FLEXcon of Spencer has opened a state-of-the-art technology and innovation center. The company makes films and adhesives for all sorts of labels on consumer goods, and solar voltaic equipment.

FLEXcon CEO Mike Engel tells me he wanted to grow his company in Spencer. FLEXcon employs about 800 people.